Often we look back on cars of olde, wishing we could buy them preserved in amber — walk into a dealership, slap down $30 and some pocket lint, and walk out with a brand new ‘94 Miata. “They just don’t make ‘em like they used to,” we say, sadly scrolling through endless Facebook Marketplace rustbuckets.
Today, though, we’re not looking at the cars that should be preserved in amber. Today, we have a different question on our minds: What car deserves a truly modern generation to show up on dealer floors right now?
To be clear, this is not a light facelift. We’re imagining these cars continued their production through to the current day, with all the styling updates and mechanical changes that would entail. This includes consideration for not only modern trends, but modern safety and fuel economy regulations.
For my pick, the car that’d best take updates for the modern era is the Mazda RX-7. We’d lose that sleek FD body, to be sure, but continuing that lineage rather than the RX-8 nets us a few benefits.
For starters, we stick with a two-seat layout. There’s a dearth of modern two-seaters, and introducing another would add some real charm to an otherwise stagnating segment. Plus, we’ve already seen that the rotary works great as an EV range extender — an RX-7 with electric torque would be an absolute joy to drive.
My pick for a car that deserves a truly modern generation is the RX-7, but what’s yours? Leave your answers in the comments, and we’ll collect our favorites later in the week.
